FREE AGENTS
Jannero Pargo (64/PG) - signed with Bobcats on 3/14
DaJuan Summers (60/SF) - signed with Clippers on 3/15
Shelvin Mack (65/PG) - signed with Hawks on 3/6

Holyyyyyyyy shit. My jaw's on the floor.2K Sports still has Raja Bell on the Jazz.With Travis Leslie (who replaced him) also on the team
— Rashidi (@Real2KInsider) March 16, 2013

Raja Bell shouldn't have even been on the team in the last roster (3/12).He was waived on 3/10.Good thing 2K banned me from their forums
— Rashidi (@Real2KInsider) March 16, 2013

Now, in the grand scheme of things, Raja Bell being on the Jazz roster doesn't matter all that much. They have him "injured" so he can't even be used. The greater point is that it inspires absolutely no confidence in 2K Sports as a company who cares about the quality and accuracy of their product and one that KNOWS sports (specifically NBA basketball).

@ld2k @flashgordon1980 I think I speak for all custom roster editors when I say we wouldn't have a problem keeping up with NBA transactions.
— Rashidi (@Real2KInsider) March 16, 2013

These bad memories of 2K's roster support stick in everyone's mind. You'd better believe EA Sports knows this is 2K's biggest weakness (which is why they employed Synergy in 2010).

Post release support is what gives this game something called REPLAY VALUE. Online play has become extremely boring of late because there have barely been any changes over the past 2 months. 2K Sports is providing very little incentive to continue playing their title. That hurts the brand.

I've personally moved on to Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm (while also re-dabbling in Skyrim, the game that never ends). Other gamers will be moving on to Gears of War: Judgement in a few days, while Call of Duty is a year-round event for many. 2K Sports isn't ONLY competing with EA Sports - they are vying for the attention of ALL gamers. If 2K doesn't care about their title in March, why should I?

Thompson has shown much improvement in his offense and rebounding this season, silencing critics who believed the team would have been better served drafting Jonas Valanciunas with the 4th selection in the 2011 draft.

Rashidi's Rating: 75

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Dwight Howard
90 Overall (+1)
95 OffReb (+4)
89 DefReb (+7)

2013
19.3 PER
10.7 ORB% (career worst)
27.5 DRB% (6th in NBA)

2012
24.2 PER (2nd in NBA)
11.0 ORB%
33.1 DRB% (1st in NBA)

This rating change is a damn joke and one doesn't have to look any further than Tristan Thompson for proof.

Howard is having the worst offensive rebounding season of his career and his rating is 4 points away from the maximum? Howard has a nightmare season and one week of solid play means 2K RUNS at the speed of light to appease Laker fans? Cleveland fans were begging for Thompson to get his much deserved update for MONTHS. Many players are still waiting to get their first edit. Small-market teams like the Jazz, Kings, Bobcats are ignored on an annual basis.

It's crystal clear that whoever does 2K's ratings isn't watching the games (and certainly doesn't take pride in their league-wide work). They are merely responding to volume fan demand. Laker fans freak that their players aren't rated high enough and they get boosted because 2K is afraid they'll... what, stop buying the game??? Do us all a favor and GROW A PAIR, 2K Sports.

Harkless received a large boost to his overall and most of that stems from the gaudy boosts given to his awareness ratings. As a player who averages a mere 10 points per 36 minutes and is one of the worst passing SFs in the league, 60 OffAwr is extremely generous. Teammate E'Twaun Moore averages 13 pp36 and is a good enough passer to run point, yet his OffAwr is only 57.

As one can see when looking at Harkless' shooting stats, he is basically useless when he can't get to the rim, and the 10 point boost to his Close shot is utter nonsense. Likewise, Harkless' rebound and block rates weren't high enough to merit the boosts he just received. The ratings were fine before, and 2K is merely acquiescing to fan demand.

Just because a player is starting, doesn't mean he is actually good. Magic fans were hoping for an increase to Tobias Harris, the player who has actually played well of late, but their pleas were not heard.

Brewer received a much needed 3pt boost as he is at least competent at hitting the shot. Aside from Offensive Awareness and Steal, there wasn't much of a need for any of his other ratings to go up (Steal should have gone up further since Brewer is annually among the league's best).

Most of these ratings were designed to make Stephenson a better finisher. It's good that 2K finally noticed Stephenson had the lowest possible Consistency rating and fixed that... although he certainly doesn't deserve 60, as he isn't close to actually BEING consistent (he just deserves better then the absolute minimum)

I'm not sure why there is reluctance to raise Stephenson's Defensive Awareness. The Pacers are the best defensive team in the league and Stephenson is a big part of that.

*Denotes previously in an NBA 2K game (which means 2K Sports already has files for these players).

Terrel Harris, Chris Wright, and Malcolm Thomas all signed 10-day contracts this week. There isn't a chance in hell any of them get added to the game since we've been waiting TWO MONTHS now for Gelabale and Chris Johnson who actually play.

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INJURED PLAYERS

As usual, this is the only area of the rosters that 2K seems to care about (even though most fans loathe it).

Given that I did not write an article for last week's roster that was solely an injury update, this includes changes from both rosters.

KNICKS: Raymond Felton (PG), Iman Shumpert (SG), James White (SF), Carmelo Anthony (PF), Tyson Chandler (C)
White lost his spot in the rotation and didn't even play on 3/14, much less start. Chris Copeland is the latest starting SF for a team that refuses to use Carmelo Anthony at his natural position.

7 comments:

It's a damn shame how PATHETIC these updates are. Why don't they hire someone who would actually enjoy to update the rosters? This guy clearly doesn't. Hell, I don't even think he's a basketball fan judging by these updates. EA was so much better in this regard. Too bad their gameplay is garbage.

That analysis is pretty basic and it's pretty sad that 2K doesn't even go that deep anymore. They are merely fixated on Overall rating now rather than the actual attributes, since OVR is what people generally complain about.